Somerset’s Men’s and Ladies’ teams have stormed through their groups with undefeated records in the Aegon Summer County Cup to gain promotion.
The Ladies’ team registered three match wins in which they lost just five rubbers from a total of 27. They got their campaign underway with a 7-2 win over Lincolnshire; Eleanor Lewis (Wedmore) and Vanessa Brill (Cheddar) secured three wins for the side, all without dropping a set, Natalie Ayton (Taunton) and Kerry Quirk (Taunton) also won three matches with Alexandra Venter (Burnham-on-Sea) and Zoe Leach (Taunton) scoring the team’s other point.
A 6-3 victory over Cornwall followed as Ayton and Venter combined to win three matches, Lewis and Brill scored two more with straight sets wins and Quirk and Leach completed the scoring with a 6-4, 6-1 win. The final group match saw the Somerset Ladies thrash Derbyshire 9-0 with all the pairings scoring maximum points. Sophie Butland (Taunton) scored her first win of the competition as she partnered Lewis in a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 victory.
With a 100% record in group 5, Somerset Ladies cruised to promotion and will ply their trade in group 4 next time around.
The Men’s team faired equally as well in their group. They got things started with a narrow 5-4 win over Lincolnshire. Dan Manlow (Wellington) and Craig Phillips (Burnham-on-Sea) were the top scorers with three wins out of three whilst Alistair Felton (Victoria, Street) and Toby Mitchell (Burnham-on-Sea) scored two points of their own. James Pankhurst (Yeovil) and Mathew Bernard (Taunton) were edged out of winning a point after being beaten 7-4 in a third set tie-breaker in their second match.
Somerset’s Men then registered a 7-2 victory over Durham & Cleveland; Felton and Mitchell scored maximum points with three wins, as did Manlow and Phillips. Pankhurst and Bernard scored the team’s other point thanks to a 6-2, 6-3 win.
A whitewash win over Bedfordshire was next as all three pairings completed three wins each, dropping just a single set along the way. Up next for the team was Herefordshire & Worcestershire. Captain James Deem (Wellington), Samuel Edwards (Wells) and Alexander Hudson (Wells) came in to the team for the match as they reshuffled their pairings. Felton and Mitchell stayed together and duly won all three of their matches. Manlow combined with Pankhurt to win both of their matches and Deem and Edwards also won a match to give the team a 6-3 victory.
Another small shakeup in the pairings didn’t stop the team from completing a 7-2 win over Cornwall in their final match; Felton and Mitchell completed another maximum of three wins whilst duos Edwards and Pankhurst and Deem and Hudson won two matches each to complete the scoring.
The Somerset Men dominated group 5a, finishing four points clear of second placed Lincolnshire and will play in group 4 of the competition in the next edition.